helium
Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...
-filled rigid
airship
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air.
In early ...
of the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
, the
lead ship
The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels.
Large ships are very complex and may ...
of her class, which operated between September 1931 and April 1933. It was the world's first purpose-built flying aircraft carrier, carrying
F9C Sparrowhawk
The Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk is a light 1930s biplane fighter aircraft that was carried by the United States Navy airships and . It is an example of a parasite fighter, a small airplane designed to be deployed from a larger aircraft such as ...
fighter plane
Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield p ...
s, which could be launched and recovered while it was in flight. With an overall length of , ''Akron'' and her
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
were among the largest flying objects ever built. Although LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'' and LZ 130 ''
Graf Zeppelin II
The ''Graf Zeppelin'' (; Registration: D-LZ 130) was the last of the German rigid airships built by Zeppelin Luftschiffbau during the period between the World Wars, the second and final ship of the ''Hindenburg'' class, and the second zeppe ...
'' were some longer and slightly more voluminous, the two German airships were filled with
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...
, and so the two US Navy craft still hold the world record for the largest helium-filled airships.
''Akron'' was destroyed in a
thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...
off the coast of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
on the morning of 4 April 1933, killing 73 of the 76 crewmen and passengers. The accident involved the greatest loss of life in any airship crash.
Technical description
The airship's skeleton was built of the new lightweight
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...
duralumin
Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of '' Dürener'' and ''aluminium''.
Its use as a tra ...
17-SRT. The frame introduced several novel features compared with traditional Zeppelin designs. Rather than being single-girder diamond trusses with radial wire bracing, the main rings of ''Akron'' were self-supporting deep frames: triangular Warren trusses 'curled' round to form a ring. Though much heavier than conventional rings, the deep rings promised to be much stronger, a significant attraction to the navy after the in-flight break up of the earlier conventional airships
R38
The ''R.38'' class (also known as the ''A'' class) of rigid airships was designed for Britain's Royal Navy during the final months of the First World War, intended for long-range patrol duties over the North Sea. Four similar airships were ...
/
ZR-2
The ''R.38'' class (also known as the ''A'' class) of rigid airships was designed for Britain's Royal Navy during the final months of the First World War, intended for long-range patrol duties over the North Sea. Four similar airships were o ...
and
ZR-1
USS ''Shenandoah'' was the first of four United States Navy rigid airships. It was constructed during 1922–1923 at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, and first flew in September 1923. It developed the U.S. Navy's experience with rigid airships and ...
''Shenandoah''. The inherent strength of these frames allowed the chief designer,
Karl Arnstein
Karl Arnstein (March 24, 1887, Prague – December 12, 1974, Bryan, Ohio) was one of the most important 20th century airship engineers and designers in Germany and the United States of America. He was born in Prague, Bohemia (now the Czech Repub ...
, to dispense with the internal cruciform structure used by Zeppelin to support the fins of their ships. Instead, the fins of ''Akron'' were cantilevered: mounted entirely externally to the main structure. ''Graf Zeppelin'', ''Graf Zeppelin II'', and ''Hindenburg'' used a supplementary axial keel along the hull centerline. However, the ''Akron'' used three keels, one running along the top of the hull and one each side, 45 degrees up from the lower centreline. Each keel provided a walkway running almost the entire length of the ship. The electric and telephone wiring, control cables, 110 fuel tanks, 44 water ballast bags, 8 engine rooms, engines, transmissions, and water-recovery devices were placed along the lower keels. The inert gas helium was used instead of flammable hydrogen, which improved streamlining by allowing the engines to be safely placed inside the hull. A generator room, with 2 Westinghouse d.c. generators powered by a 30-h.p. internal combustion engine, was forward of the No. 7 engine room.
The main rings were spaced at and between each pair were three intermediate rings of lighter construction. In keeping with conventional practice, 'station numbers' on the airship were measured in meters from zero at the rudder post, positive forward and negative aft. Thus the tip of the tail was at station −23.75 and the nose mooring spindle was at station 210.75. Each ring frame formed a polygon with 36 corners and these (and their associated longitudinal girders) were numbered from 1 (at the bottom centre) to 18 (at the top centre) port and starboard. Thus a position on the hull could be referred to, for example, as "6 port at station 102.5" (the number 1 engine room).
While Germany, France and Britain used
goldbeater's skin
Goldbeater's skin is the processed outer membrane of the intestine of an animal, typically cattle, which is valued for its strength against tearing. The term derives from its traditional use as durable layers interleaved between sheets of gold st ...
to gas-proof their gasbags, ''Akron'' used Goodyear Tire and Rubber's rubberised cotton, heavier but much cheaper and more durable. Half the gas cells used an experimental cotton-based fabric impregnated with a gelatin-latex compound. This was more expensive than the rubberised cotton but lighter than goldbeater's skin. It was so successful that all the gasbags of ''Macon'' were made from it. There were 12 gas cells, numbered 0 to XI, using Roman numerals and starting from the tail. While the 'air volume' of the hull was , the total volume of the gas cells at 100 percent fill was . At a normal 95 percent fill with helium of standard purity, the of gas would yield a gross lift of . Given a structure deadweight of , this gives a useful lift of available for fuel, lubricants, ballast, crew, supplies and military load (including the skyhook airplanes)
Eight
Maybach VL II
The Maybach VL II was a type of internal combustion engine built by the German company Maybach in the late 1920s and 1930s. It was an uprated development of the successful Maybach VL I, and like the VL I, was a 60° V-12 engine.
Five of them powe ...
gasoline engines were mounted inside the hull. Each engine turned a two-bladed, diameter, fixed pitch, wooden propeller via a driveshaft and bevel gearing which allowed the propeller to swivel from the vertical plane to the horizontal. With the engines' ability to reverse, this allowed thrust to be applied forward, aft, up or down.Smith (1965). p. 193 It appears from photographs that the four propellers on each side were contra-rotating, each one turning the opposite way to the one ahead of it. Thus it would appear that the designers were aware that running the propellers in the air disturbed by the one ahead was not ideal. While the external engine pods of other airships allowed the thrust lines to be staggered, placing all four engine rooms on each side of the ship along the lower keel resulted in ''Akron''s propellers all being in line. This proved problematic in service, as it induced considerable vibration which was especially noticeable in the emergency control position in the lower fin. By 1933, ''Akron'' had two of her propellers replaced by more advanced, ground-adjustable, three-bladed, metal propellers. These promised a performance increase and were adopted as standard for ''Macon''.
The outer cover was of cotton cloth, treated with four coats of clear and two coats of aluminum pigmented cellulose dope. The total area of the skin was and it weighed, after doping, .Smith (1965). p. 182
The prominent dark vertical bands on the hull were condensers of the system designed to recover water from the engines' exhaust for buoyancy compensation. In-flight fuel consumption continuously reduces an airship's weight and changes in the temperature of the lifting gas can do the same. Normally, expensive helium has to be released to compensate and any way of avoiding this is desirable. In theory, a water recovery system such as this can produce 1 lb of ballast water for every lb of fuel burned, though this is unlikely to be achieved in practice.
''Akron'' could carry up to of gasoline () in 110 separate tanks which were distributed along the lower keels to preserve the ship's trim, giving her a normal range of at cruising speed. Theoretical maximum ballast water capacity was in 44 bags, again distributed along her length, though normal ballast load at unmasting was . Maximum ballast was never an option, because a full fuel and ballast load would have left only lifting capacity for aircraft, crew, and supplies, and each fully loaded F9C fighter alone weighed .
The heart of the ship, and her sole reason for existing, was the airplane hangar and trapeze system. Aft of the control car, in bay VII, between frames 125 and 141.25, was a compartment large enough to accommodate up to five
F9C Sparrowhawk
The Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk is a light 1930s biplane fighter aircraft that was carried by the United States Navy airships and . It is an example of a parasite fighter, a small airplane designed to be deployed from a larger aircraft such as ...
airplanes. However, two structural girders partially obstructed ''Akron''s aftmost hangar bays, limiting its capacity to three airplanes (one in each forward corner of the hangar and one on the trapeze). A modification to remove this design flaw was pending at the time of the ship's loss.Smith (1965). p. 67
The F9C was not the ideal choice, being designed as a 'conventional' carrier-borne fighter. It was heavily built to withstand carrier landings, downward visibility was not very good and it initially lacked an effective radio. But the primary role of ''Akron''s airplanes was long-range naval scouting. What was actually needed was a stable, fast, lightweight scouting airplane with a long range, but none existed capable of fitting between the structural members and into the airship's hangar, as the F9C could.
The trapeze was lowered through the T-shaped door in the bottom of the ship and into the slipstream, with an airplane attached to the crossbar by the 'skyhook' above its top wing, its pilot on board and its engine running. The pilot tripped the hook and the airplane fell away from the ship. On his return, he positioned himself beneath the trapeze and climbed up until he could fly his skyhook onto the crossbar, at which point it automatically latched shut. Now, with the engine idling, the trapeze and airplane were raised into the hangar, the pilot cutting his engine as he passed through the door. Once inside, the airplane was transferred from the trapeze to a trolley, running on an overhead 'monorail' system by which it could be shunted into one of the four corners of the hangar to be refueled and re-armed. Having a single trapeze raised two problems: it limited the rate at which airplanes could be launched and recovered and any fault in the trapeze would leave any airborne scouts with nowhere to land. The solution was a second, fixed trapeze permanently rigged further aft along the bottom of the ship at station 102.5 and known as the 'perch'. By 1933 a perch was fitted and in use. Three more perches were planned (at stations 57.5, 80 and 147.5) but these were never fitted.
''Akron'' revived an idea used, and eventually rejected, by the German Navy
zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
s during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
: the '' spähkorb'' or 'spy basket'.Smith (1965). p. 55 The "angel basket" or "sub-cloud observation car", allowed the airship to remain hidden in a cloud layer, while still observing the enemy below. The small car, rather like an airplane fuselage without wings, could be lowered on a 1000 foot long cable. The observer on board communicated with the ship by telephone. In practice, the device was unstable, almost looping over the airship during its only test flight.
During the design stage, in 1929, the navy requested an alteration to the fins. It was considered desirable for the bottom of the lower fin to be visible from the control car. Charles E. Rosendahl had witnessed, from the control room, '' Graf Zeppelin'' almost snagging her fin on high-tension power lines during her heavy take off into an unsuspected but very marked temperature inversion from
Mines Field
Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the ...
, Los Angeles at the start of the last leg of her round-the-world flight earlier that year. The design change would also allow direct vision between the main control car and the emergency control position in the lower fin. The control car was moved aft and all the fins were shortened and deepened. The leading edge root of the fins no longer coincided with a main (deep) ring and instead the foremost attachment was now to an intermediate ring at frame 28.75. This achieved the required visibility, improved low-speed controllability, due to the increased span of the control surfaces, and simplified stress calculations, by reducing the number of fin attachment points. The designers and the navy's inspectors, led by the very experienced Charles P Burgess, were entirely satisfied with the revised stress calculations. However, this alteration has been the subject of much criticism as an "inherent defect" in the design and is often alleged to have been a major factor in the loss of ''Akron''s sister ship ''Macon''. Construction for both ships amounted to $8,800,000 (in 1931 dollars) with the ''Akron'' accounting $5,538,400 of the total.
Construction and commissioning
Construction of ''ZRS-4'' was begun on 31 October 1929 at the
Goodyear Airdock
The Goodyear Airdock is a construction and storage airship hangar in Akron, Ohio. At its completion in 1929, it was the largest building in the world without interior supports.
Description
The building has a unique shape which has been describe ...
in
Akron, Ohio
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...
by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation. Because it was larger than any airship previously built in the US, a special hangar was constructed. Chief Designer Karl Arnstein and a team of experienced German airship engineers instructed and supported design and construction of both
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
airships USS ''Akron'' and USS ''Macon''.
On 7 November 1929,
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...
William A. Moffett
William Adger Moffett (October 31, 1869 – April 4, 1933) was an American admiral and Medal of Honor recipient known as the architect of naval aviation in the United States Navy.
Biography
Born October 31, 1869 in Charleston, South Carolina, ...
, the Chief of the U.S. Navy's
Bureau of Aeronautics
The Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) was the U.S. Navy's material-support organization for naval aviation from 1921 to 1959. The bureau had "cognizance" (''i.e.'', responsibility) for the design, procurement, and support of naval aircraft and relate ...
, drove the "golden rivet" into the main ring of "ZRS4". Erection of the hull sections began in March 1930.
Secretary of the Navy
The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense.
By law, the se ...
Charles Francis Adams chose the name ''Akron'' (for the city near where it was being built), and
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy.
From 1861 to 1954, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the second-highest civilian office in the Depar ...
Ernest Lee Jahncke
Ernest Lee Jahncke (October 13, 1877 – November 16, 1960) was United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1929 to 1933. He was the first, and until the 2002 Winter Olympic bid scandal the only person ever to have been expelled from t ...
announced it in May 1930.
On 8 August 1931, ''Akron'' was launched (floated free of the hangar floor) and christened by First Lady
Lou Henry Hoover
Lou Hoover (née Henry; March 29, 1874 – January 7, 1944) was an American philanthropist, geologist, and First Lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933 as the wife of President Herbert Hoover. She was active in numerous community organizatio ...
, the
wife
A wife (plural, : wives) is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally Dissolution (law), dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, ...
of the President of the United States,
Herbert Clark Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Grea ...
. The maiden flight of ''Akron'' took place around
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
on the afternoon of 23 September with Secretary of the Navy Adams and Rear Admiral Moffett on board. The airship made ten trial flights, including a 2000-mile journey, over 48 hours, to
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, and
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
. On 21 October ''Akron'' left the
Goodyear Zeppelin Air Dock
The Goodyear Airdock is a construction and storage airship hangar in Akron, Ohio. At its completion in 1929, it was the largest building in the world without interior supports.
Description
The building has a unique shape which has been describe ...
Navy Day
Several nations observe or have observed a Navy Day to recognize their navy.
By country
Argentina
The Argentine Navy day is celebrated on May 17, anniversary of the victory achieved in 1814 in the Battle of Montevideo.
Bahrain
The R ...
, 27 October 1931, the ''Akron'' was commissioned as a Navy vessel.
History of service
Maiden voyage
On 2 November 1931, ''Akron'' departed on her first cruise down the eastern seaboard to
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
On 3 November the ''Akron'' took to the air with 207 persons on board. This demonstration was to prove that in an emergency airships could provide limited but high speed airlift of troops to outlying possessions. Over the weeks that followed, some 300 hours aloft were logged in a series of flights, including a 46-hour endurance flight to
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
, and back. The return leg of the trip was made via the valleys of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
and the
Ohio River
The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...
.
Participation in a search exercise (January 1932)
On the morning of 9 January 1932, ''Akron'' departed from Lakehurst to work with the
Scouting Fleet
The Scouting Fleet was created in 1922 as part of a major, post-World War I reorganization of the United States Navy. The Atlantic and Pacific fleets, which comprised a significant portion of the ships in the United States Navy, were combined into ...
on a search exercise. Proceeding to the coast of
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, ''Akron'' headed out over the Atlantic where it was assigned to find a group of
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s bound for
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
Guantánamo (, , ) is a municipality and city in southeast Cuba and capital of Guantánamo Province.
Guantánamo is served by the Caimanera port near the site of a U.S. naval base. The area produces sugarcane and cotton wool. These are tradition ...
. Once these were located, the airship was to shadow them and report their movements. Leaving the coast of North Carolina at about 7:21 on the morning of 10 January, the airship proceeded south, but bad weather prevented sighting the destroyers (contact with them was missed at 12:40 EST, although their crews had sighted ''Akron'') and eventually shaped a course toward the
Bahama
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the arch ...
s by late afternoon. Heading northwesterly into the night, ''Akron'' then changed course shortly before midnight and proceeded to the southeast. Ultimately, at 9:08 am on 11 January, the airship succeeded in spotting the
light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
and 12 destroyers, positively identifying them on the eastern horizon two minutes later. Sighting a second group of destroyers shortly thereafter, ''Akron'' was released from the evaluation about 10:00 a.m., having achieved a "qualified success" in the initial test with the Scouting Fleet, but the performance could have been better with radio detection finding equipment, and scout planes.
As the historian Richard K Smith wrote in his definitive study, The Airships ''Akron'' and ''Macon'', "...consideration given to the weather, duration of flight, a track of more than flown, her material deficiencies, and the rudimentary character of aerial navigation at that date, the ''Akron'' performance was remarkable. There was not a military airplane in the world in 1932 which could have given the same performance, operating from the same base."
First accident (February 1932)
''Akron'' was to have taken part in
Fleet Problem XIII The Fleet Problems are a series of naval exercises of the United States Navy conducted in the interwar period, and later resurrected by Pacific Fleet around 2014.
The first twenty-one Fleet Problems — labeled with roman numerals as Fleet Proble ...
, but an accident at Lakehurst on 22 February 1932 prevented her participation. While the airship was being taken from her hangar, the tail came loose from her moorings, was caught by the wind, and struck the ground. The heaviest damage was confined to the lower fin area, which required repair. Also, ground handling fittings had been torn from the main frame, necessitating further repairs. ''Akron'' was not certified as airworthy again until later in the spring. Her next operation took place on 28 April, when it made a nine-hour flight with Rear Admiral Moffett and Secretary of the Navy Adams aboard.
As a result of this accident, a turntable with a walking beam on tracks powered by electric mine locomotives was developed to secure the tail and turn the ship even in high winds so that it could be pulled into the massive hangar at Lakehurst.
Testing of the "spy basket"
Soon after returning to Lakehurst to disembark her distinguished passengers, ''Akron'' took off again to conduct a test of the "
spy basket
The spy gondola, spy basket, observation car or sub-cloud car (german: Spähgondel or ) is a crewed vessel that an airship hiding in cloud cover could lower several hundred metres to a point below the clouds in order to inconspicuously observe the ...
"—something like a small airplane fuselage suspended beneath the airship that would enable an observer to serve as the ship's "eyes" below the clouds while the ship herself remained out of sight above them. The first time the basket was tried (with sandbags aboard instead of a man), it oscillated so violently that it put the whole ship in danger. The basket proved "frighteningly unstable", swooping from one side of the airship to the other before the startled gaze of ''Akron''s officers and men and reaching as high as the ship's equator. Though it was later improved by adding a ventral stabilizing fin, the spybasket was never used again.
Experimental use as a "flying aircraft carrier"
''Akron'' and ''Macon'' (which was still under construction) were regarded as potential "flying aircraft carriers", carrying
parasite fighter
A parasite aircraft is a component of a composite aircraft which is carried aloft and air launched by a larger carrier aircraft or mother ship to support the primary mission of the carrier. The carrier craft may or may not be able to later recov ...
s for reconnaissance. On 3 May 1932, ''Akron'' cruised over the coast of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
with Rear Admiral
George C. Day
George Calvin Day (November 8, 1871 – November 3, 1940) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy, whose career lasted from the 1890s until the mid-1930s.
Biography
Born in Bradford, Vermont, the son of Hezron George Day, on 8 November 1871, ...
, and the
Board of Inspection and Survey
The Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) is a United States Navy organization whose purpose is to inspect and assess the material condition of U.S. Navy vessels.
The Board is currently headquartered at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virgin ...
, on board, and for the first time tested the "trapeze" installation for in-flight handling of aircraft. The
aviator
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
s who carried out those historic "landings"—first with a Consolidated N2Ytrainer and then with the prototype Curtiss XF9C-1 Sparrowhawk—were Lieutenant D. Ward Harrigan and Lieutenant Howard L. Young. The following day, ''Akron'' carried out another demonstration flight, this time with members of the House Committee on Naval Affairs on board; this time, Lieutenants Harrigan and Young gave the lawmakers a demonstration of ''Akron''s aircraft hook-on ability.
"Coast-to-coast" flight and second accident (May 1932)
Following the conclusion of those trial flights, ''Akron'' departed from Lakehurst, New Jersey on 8 May 1932, for the American west coast. The airship proceeded down the eastern seaboard to
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
and then across the southern gulf states, continuing over Texas and
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. En route to
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California.
Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the nort ...
, ''Akron'' reached
Camp Kearny
Camp Kearny was a U.S. military base (first Army, later Navy) in San Diego County, California, on the site of the current Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. It operated from 1917 to 1946. The base was named in honor of Brigadier General Stephen W ...
in San Diego on the morning of 11 May and attempted to moor. Since neither trained ground handlers nor specialized
mooring
A mooring is any permanent structure to which a vessel may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to forestall free movement of the ship on the water. An ''an ...
equipment were present, the landing at Camp Kearny was fraught with danger. By the time the crew started the evaluation, the helium gas had been warmed by sunlight, increasing lift. Lightened by , the amount of fuel spent during the transcontinental trip, ''Akron'' was now uncontrollably light.
The mooring cable was cut to avert a catastrophic nose-stand by the errant airship which floated upwards. Most of the mooring crew—predominantly "boot" seamen from the Naval Training Station San Diego—released their lines although four did not. One let go at about and suffered a broken arm while the three others were carried further aloft. Of these, Aviation Carpenter's Mate 3rd Class Robert H. Edsall and Apprentice Seaman Nigel M. Henton soon plunged to their deaths while Apprentice Seaman C. M. "Bud" Cowart held on to his line and then secured himself to it before being hoisted on board the airship an hour later. ''Akron'' moored at Camp Kearny later that day before proceeding to
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California.
Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the nort ...
. Footage from the accident appears in the film ''Encounters with Disaster'', released in 1979 and produced by Sun Classic Pictures.
West Coast flights
Over the weeks that followed, ''Akron'' "showed the flag" on the
West Coast of the United States
The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...
, ranging as far north as the Canada–US border before returning south in time to exercise once more with the Scouting Fleet. Serving as part of the "Green Force", the ''Akron'' attempted to locate the "White Force". Although opposed by
Vought O2U Corsair
The Vought O2U Corsair was a 1920s biplane scout and observation aircraft. Developed by Vought Corporation, the O2U was ordered by the United States Navy (USN) in 1927. Powered by a 400 hp (298 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine, it inco ...
floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
s from "enemy"
warship
A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster a ...
s, the airship located the opposing forces in just 22 hours, a fact not lost upon some of the participants in the exercise in subsequent critiques.
In need of repairs, ''Akron'' departed from Sunnyvale on 11 June 1932 bound for
Lakehurst, New Jersey
Lakehurst is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 2,654,pressure height while crossing the mountains. ''Akron'' arrived on 15 June after a "long and sometimes harrowing" aerial voyage.
''Akron'' next underwent a period of voyage repairs before taking part in July in a search for ''Curlew'', a yacht which had failed to reach port at the end of a race to the island of
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
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, mapsize2 =
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. The yacht was later discovered safe off
Nantucket
Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...
. It then resumed operations capturing aircraft on the "trapeze" equipment. Admiral Moffett again boarded ''Akron'' on 20 July, but the next day left the airship in one of her N2Y-1s which took him back to Lakehurst after a severe storm had delayed the airship's own return to base.
Further tests as "flying aircraft carrier"
''Akron'' entered a new phase of her career that summer of 1932, engaging in intense experimentation with the revolutionary "trapeze" and a full complement of F9C-2s. A key element of the entrance into that new phase was a new commanding officer, Commander Alger Dresel.
Third accident (August 1932)
Another accident hampered training on 22 August when ''Akron''s tail fin became fouled by a beam in Lakehurst's massive Hangar No 1 after a premature order to commence towing the ship out of the mooring circle. Nevertheless, rapid repairs enabled eight more flights over the Atlantic during the last three months of 1932. These operations involved intensive work with the trapeze and the F9C-2s, as well as the drilling of lookouts and gun crews.
Among the tasks undertaken were the maintenance of two aircraft patrolling and scouting on ''Akron''s flanks. During a seven-hour period on 18 November 1932, the airship and a trio of planes searched a sector 100 mi wide.
Return to the fleet
After local operations out of Lakehurst for the remainder of 1932, ''Akron'' was ready to resume operations with the fleet. On the afternoon of 3 January 1933, Commander
Frank C. McCord
USS ''McCord'' (DD-534) was a World War II-era in the service of the United States Navy.
Namesake
Frank C. McCord was born on 2 August 1890 in Vincennes, Indiana. He was appointed Midshipman on July 5, 1907. From 1925 on, his career focused on ...
relieved Commander Dresel as commanding officer, the latter becoming the first commanding officer of ''Akron''s sister ship ''Macon'', whose construction was almost complete. Within hours, ''Akron'' headed south down the eastern seaboard toward Florida where, after refueling at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base,
Opa-locka, Florida
Opa-locka is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,463, up from 15,219 in 2010. The city was developed by Glenn Curtiss. Developed based on a ''One Thousand and One Nights'' theme, Op ...
, near Miami, the next day proceeded to Guantánamo Bay for an inspection of base sites. At this time the N2Y-1s were used to provide aerial "taxi" service to ferry members of the inspection party back and forth.
Soon thereafter, ''Akron'' returned to Lakehurst for local operations which were interrupted by a two-week overhaul and poor weather. In March, it carried out intensive training with an aviation unit of F9C-2s, honing hook-on skills. During the course of these operations, an overfly of Washington DC was made 4 March 1933, the day
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
first took the oath of office as President of the United States.
On 11 March, ''Akron'' departed Lakehurst bound for
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
stopping briefly ''en route'' at Opa-locka before proceeding on to Balboa where an inspection party looked over a potential air base site. While returning northward, the airship paused at Opa-locka again for local operations exercising gun crews, with the N2Y-1s serving as targets, before getting underway for Lakehurst on 22 March.
Loss
On the evening of 3 April 1933, ''Akron'' cast off from the
mooring mast
A mooring mast, or mooring tower, is a structure designed to allow for the docking of an airship outside of an airship hangar or similar structure. More specifically, a mooring mast is a mast or tower that contains a fitting on its top that allow ...
to operate along the coast of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
, assisting in the calibration of
radio direction finder
Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio station ...
stations. Rear Admiral Moffett was again on board along with his aide, Commander Henry Barton Cecil, Commander Fred T. Berry, the commanding officer of NAS Lakehurst, and Lieutenant Colonel Alfred F. Masury,
U.S. Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces.
Since July 20 ...
, a guest of the admiral, the vice-president of
Mack Trucks
Mack Trucks, Inc., is an American truck manufacturing company and a former manufacturer of buses and trolley buses. Founded in 1900 as the Mack Brothers Company, it manufactured its first truck in 1905 and adopted its present name in 1922. Mack ...
, and a strong proponent of the potential civilian uses of rigid airships.
After casting off at 19:28, ''Akron'' soon encountered fog and then severe weather, which did not improve when the airship passed over
Barnegat Light, New Jersey
Barnegat Light is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 574,stalled, and crashed into the sea.
''Akron'' broke up rapidly and sank in the stormy Atlantic. The crew of the nearby German
merchant ship
A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are u ...
''Phoebus'' saw lights descending toward the ocean at about 00:23 and altered course to starboard to investigate, with her captain believing that he was witnessing an airplane crash. At 00:55, executive officer Lieutenant Commander Herbert V. Wiley was pulled from the water while the ship's boat picked up three more men: Chief Radioman Robert W. Copeland, Boatswain's Mate Second Class Richard E. Deal, and Aviation Metalsmith Second Class Moody E. Erwin. Despite artificial respiration, Copeland never regained consciousness, and he died aboard ''Phoebus''.
Although the German sailors spotted four or five other men in the water, they did not know their ship had chanced upon the crash of ''Akron'' until Lt. Commander Wiley regained consciousness half an hour after being rescued. The crew of ''Phoebus'' combed the ocean in boats for over five hours in a fruitless search for more survivors. The Navy
blimp
A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hydr ...
''J-3''—sent out to join the search—also crashed, with the loss of two men.
The
U.S. Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...
cutter —the first American vessel on the scene—arrived at 06:00, taking the airship's survivors and the body of Copeland on board. Among the other ships combing the area for survivors were the
heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Tr ...
, the destroyer , the Coast Guard cutter , and the Coast Guard destroyers and , as well as two Coast Guard aircraft. The fishing vessel ''Grace F'' from
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry and a ...
, also assisted in the search, using her seining gear in an effort to recover bodies.
Most casualties had been caused by drowning and hypothermia, since the crew had not been issued life jackets, and there had not been time to deploy the single life raft. The accident left 73 dead, and only three survivors. Wiley, standing next to the two other survivors, gave a brief account on 6 April.
Aftermath of loss
''Akron''s loss spelled the beginning of the end for the rigid airship in the U.S. Navy, especially since one of her leading proponents, Rear Admiral
William A. Moffett
William Adger Moffett (October 31, 1869 – April 4, 1933) was an American admiral and Medal of Honor recipient known as the architect of naval aviation in the United States Navy.
Biography
Born October 31, 1869 in Charleston, South Carolina, ...
, was among the dead. President Roosevelt said, "The loss of the ''Akron'' with her crew of gallant officers and men is a national disaster. I grieve with the Nation and especially with the wives and families of the men who were lost. Ships can be replaced, but the Nation can ill afford to lose such men as Rear Admiral William A. Moffett and his shipmates who died with him upholding to the end the finest traditions of the United States Navy." The loss of the ''Akron'' was the largest loss of life in any airship crash.
''Macon'' and other airships received life jackets to avert a repetition of this tragedy. When ''Macon'' was damaged in a storm in 1935 and subsequently sank after landing in the sea, 70 of the 72 crew were saved.
The songwriter Bob Miller wrote and recorded a song, "The Crash of the Akron", within one day of the disaster.
In 2003, the U.S. submarine surveyed the wreck site and performed sonar imaging of the ''Akrons girders.
Assessment
For numerous reasons, in the opinion of U.S. naval aviation historian Richard K. Smith,Smith (1965). p 171 ''Akron'' never got the chance to show what it was capable of. Initially, the idea had been to use her as a scout for the fleet, just as the German Navy
zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...
s had been used during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, with her airplanes being simply useful auxiliaries capable of extending her range of vision or of defending her against attacking enemy aircraft. Gradually, in the minds of the more forward-thinking officers familiar with airship and scouting fleet operations, that was reversed, it and ''Macon'' came to be regarded as aircraft carriers, whose sole job was to get the scouting airplanes to the search area and then to support them in their flights.Report by Senior Aviator, HTA Unit to CO, Akron ZRS4/A4-3, 15 December 1932, Record Group 72, BuAer General Correspondence (1925–1942), Box 5592, US National Archives The mothership herself should stay in the background, out of sight of enemy surface units, and act merely as a mobile advanced base for the airplanes, which should do all of the actual searching. Any aircraft carrier could do that, but only an airship could do it so quickly since her speed was at least twice that of a surface ship, enabling her to get to the scene or be switched from flank to flank quickly. However, it was an experimental ship, a prototype, and it took time for the doctrine and suitable tactics to evolve. It also took time to develop the techniques of navigating, controlling, and coordinating the scouts. At first, developments were hampered by inadequate radio equipment, as well as the difficulties encountered by the scout pilots in navigating, scouting, and communicating from their cramped open cockpits.
Some politicians, some senior officers, and some sections of the press seemed predisposed to judge the airship experiment a failure without regard to the evidence. Even within the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics, many opposed spending so much on a single asset. Smith also asserts that political pressure inside and outside the navy led to the ship being pushed too early to attempt too much. Little allowance seems to have been made for the fact that this was a prototype, an experimental system, and that tactics for her use were being developed "on the hoof." As a result, the airship's performance in fleet exercises was not all that some had hoped and gave an exaggerated impression of the ship's vulnerability and failed to demonstrate her strengths.
List of airship accidents
The following is a partial list of airship accidents.
It should be stated that rigid airships operate differently than blimps which have no rigid structure.
See also
* List of ballooning accidents
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Ai ...
*
List of airships of the United States Navy
List of airships of the United States Navy identifies the airships of the United States Navy by type, identification, and class. The fabric-clad rigid airships were treated as the equivalent of commissioned warships, and all others were treated mo ...
*
Rigid airship
A rigid airship is a type of airship (or dirigible) in which the envelope is supported by an internal framework rather than by being kept in shape by the pressure of the lifting gas within the envelope, as in blimps (also called pressure airsh ...
Notes
References
*Hook, Thomas, ''Sky Ship: the Akron Era.'' Annapolis, Md: Airshow Publishers, 1976.
*Robinson, Douglas H, and Charles L. Keller. ''"Up Ship!": U.S. Navy Rigid Airships 1919–1935.'' Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1982.
*Shock, James R, ''U.S. Navy Airships 1915–1962'', Edgewater, Florida: Atlantis Productions, 2001.
*Smith, Richard K, ''The Airships Akron & Macon: Flying Aircraft Carriers of the United States Navy.'', Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1965.
*Rosendahl, C E, ''Up Ship!'' New York, NY: Dodd, Mead and Company,1932.
*Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center USS ''Akron'' . Retrieved 5 May 2005.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
The ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'' (''DANFS'') is the official reference work for the basic facts about ships used by the United States Navy.
When the writing project was developed the parameters for this series were designed to ...